Taxable Talk

Shock of shocks, another Friday and we get more revelations on the IRS Scandal. Of course, if one believes the IRS and the Obama Administration, Lt. Frank Drebin had it right:

Let’s get to the updates:

First, the IRS announced that five of the 82 individuals being questions on the scandal had emails that disappeared. This included Judy Kindell, a former senior adviser to Lois Lerner.

Next, we discover that Lois Lerner’s Blackberry was wiped clean after the IRS was told that the emails were wanted.

Do you know Andrew Strelka–the Andrew Strelka who used to work for the Department of Justice? If you do, Jim Jordan, Congressman from Ohio, would like to hear from you. The DOJ refuses to assist Congressman Jordan and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in finding Mr. Strelka. Congressman Jordan gave the DOJ until Friday to send a forwarding address for Mr. Strelka.

Finally, Judicial Watch reports that the IRS had a ‘Secret Research Project’ for conservative donor lists. An excerpt:

Sure enough, these latest emails are treasure trove for truth-seekers about this Nixonian scandal. Contained in the newly released IRS documents is an email from Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Margo L. Stevens that was sent in response to a question from Lerner concerning attempts to return donor lists the IRS had inappropriately obtained. In Stevens’ May 21, 2012, email to Lerner, she wrote:

Lois, I wanted to get back with you with respect to your question whether TEGE [Tax Exempt & Government Entities] could return to those organizations from whom donor names were solicited in questionnaires following their submission of applications for recognition of their tax exempt status (under 501(c)(4)), now that TEGE has reviewed those files and determined that such information was not needed across-the-board and not used in making the agency’s determination on exempt status.

For those who want to say there’s nothing to see here, Lt. Drebin and the Obama Administration thank you. The rest of us owe a debt of gratitude to Judicial Watch; their lawsuit against the IRS has done more to get to the truth then the current Congressional investigations.

Let’s assume you’re under a court order to find some emails. Your hard drive crashed, but you think that some of them are saved on your Blackberry. Would you:
(a) Try to find them on the Blackberry,
(b) Do nothing, or
(c) Erase the Blackberry.

If you’re the IRS, the answer is (c). After the IRS was on notice about the missing Lois Lerner emails the IRS then wiped clean Ms. Lerner’s Blackberry. The Washington Post notes,

In response to the judge’s order, a top IRS official said in a signed declaration that the agency has no record of attempting to recover data from the mobile device.

IRS attorney Thomas J. Kane said in a separate declaration that the agency “removed or wiped clean” information from the Blackberry in June 2012, shortly after congressional staffers questioned Lerner about the targeting allegations and in the same month that the IRS inspector general began examining the issue.

Kane offered no explanation for why the IRS “removed or wiped clean” the data, and the IRS did not respond to the same question when asked by The Washington Post on Wednesday.

As Reason.com stated,

There may be a reasonable explanation for all this. But if there is, the IRS has yet to provide it, and in fact has refused when asked to do so. Combined with all the other suspicious and convenient omissions, lapses, and losses related to this case, it does make one wonder if perhaps there isn’t a reasonable explanation to be offered.

There’s nothing to add to Reason’s conclusion.

“There’s no such thing as Lois Lerner’s missing emails. It’s all been a big lie. They’ve been lying to the courts, to the American people, and to Contgess. It is really outrageous.” That’s Tom Filton, President of Judicial Watch:

The reason that the IRS allegedly hasn’t attempted to recover the missing emails? “It would be too difficult.”

Now, I do need to point out that all we have at this point is Mr. Filton’s stating that Department of Justice attorneys stated this (along with a statement released by Judicial Watch). It’s possible that this isn’t true. That said, it makes sense that there are backup systems in place. I backup information and I have nowhere near the critical needs of the government.

Assuming that what Mr. Filton stated is true, both Congress and the Courts have been lied to by the current IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and by various attorneys. This isn’t deceit, this isn’t misstatements; this is out-and-out lying. If I were a federal judge being told today that the emails exist (after telling you they didn’t) but it’s too hard to get them, I know what my reaction would be. I suspect most judges will have the same reaction.

The next court hearing involving this scandal should be mighty interesting….